Cactus plants are native to North and Latin America.
They may be found natively in desert and jungle environments.
Both biomes represent challenges to survival.
Desert and jungle cactus plants are alike in their handling of conditions of high heat, and in their aversion to cold dampness.
They're unlike in their differing responses to humidity, light, moisture, and vegetative competition.
For example, a desert cactus prefers low humidity and vegetative competition, and high light.
In contrast, a jungle cactus prefers the reverse.
Whatever their native biome, cactus plants have a presence and an impact far beyond their original homeland.
They're survivors and adapt to many different environments, as long as their basic aversion to overwatering and waterlogging is respected.
Where their demands aren't met by the natural environment, they almost always adapt to container and indoor living.
Wherever they grow, they add beauty and unusual interest to the landscape, the home, and the business.
They attract worldwide attention because of their environmental friendliness.
They're role models for the efficient use of resources and the cooperative specialization of body parts and body functions.
For example, their leaves tend to be modified into thorns, spines, spikes, quills, prongs, needles, hairs, or bristles.
They're modified to channel any available moisture - be it dew, fog, or rainfall - into the plant's immediate area, to be taken into the soil for water table replenishment or for intake by cactus roots.
They take on diverse sizes and shapes, and live diverse life spans.
But whatever the height or width, whatever the age of death, a cactus adds beauty, oxygen, use, and value to its immediate environment and beyond.